Topic: The Megami Tensei Thread

@JoeDiddley Thanks!

You've played an impressively large number of SMT games in a short amount of time, I have to say.

Lols, I have no shame, so even if it changed my icon to something like that image of a guy with a dummy & it was called 'I'm a noob & I suk' mode, I'd still play it that way ....

@JaxonH I kind of prefer SMT IV's method, where it forces you to play on the default difficulty, and then allows you to drop it down to an easier setting if you really struggle.

I doubt Atlus is going to bother programming taunts into a DLC difficulty setting, so you're probably safe.

@Ralizah ha, I sometimes have to stop myself from only playing SMT games so I don’t burn out and to experience other things.

The only game that hit me as hard recently was the first Danganronpa. Off topic but I’ve downloaded V3 today in case it doesn’t come back even though I know it probably will. There are a few games I want to play before it, and I want a gap as I played the first 2 games too close together I think to fully appreciate the 2nd game.

@Slowdive I hope P5S comes out this year so I can stop replaying that demo.

@JoeDiddley Is Ultra Despair Girls on your to-play list as well?

@JoeDiddley You're gonna really dig Innocent Sin coming off of SMT IV. It's personally my favorite mainline Persona game and definitely a top 3 MegaTen imo

@TheFrenchiestFry I couldn't get into it, personally. Which is a shame, as I was excited to play it. The battles and dungeons are incredibly boring.

@JoeDiddley that's quite a list. I own more games in the series than what I've actually played.

Finished:
-Devil Survivor Overclocked
-Persona 5 / Royal
-Catherine

Played:
-Devil Survivor 2 Record Breaker (almost finished it)
-Nocturne (about 20 hours. Now I'll just wait for the Switch port)
-Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs The Soulles Army (maybe 5 hours, but I really dig this one so far)
-Tokyo Mirage Sessions (I'm not sure how long the game is, but I put quite a bit of time into the Wii U version. Taking it slow with the Switch port)
-Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers (I didn't like this one. I started it right after Overclocked and just wasnt in the right frame of mind for a game like this)

Backlog:
-Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs King Abaddon
-Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2
-Persona 3 FES
-Persona 4
Shin Megami Tensei (I ordered a flash cart so I can play this on my original SNES. It's literally in my mailbox, waiting for me, right now)

I only seriously started playing the series this year. I have a habit that once I start doing that I gather all the games from that series I can. Last year was Castlevania and Dragon Quest. This year Megten.

@Ralizah I can definitely see the dungeon boredom argument. I personally thought the Zodiac Club and Giga Macho were pretty bland design wise while the Mu Casino and Mt. Iwato were pretty frustrating to navigate, particularly the surprise pits near the end of Mt. Iwato. It definitely makes up for it with how satisfying the battle syatem is. Honestly all Persona games have a dungeon design problem somewhere during the playtime.

So Persona 5 Scramble has been confirmed for a Western release for a second time. It also appears to be aiming for the same platforms as the JP release so definitely expect this one on Switch.

I'm personally eyeing the PS4 version for the Western release given that P5S is more of a narrative and gameplay sequel to the main game than I initially expected upon playing it, so having a PS4 copy of vanilla, Royal and Scramble just feels right. Plus it'll probably be backwards compatible with PS5 as a result of being released after the mandate for backwards compatiblity.
https://personacentral.com/persona-5-scramble-confirmed-west-...

@Ralizah the gameplay is what makes me a little hesitant. Whereas with Persona I’ve always loved fighting and rhythm games. I’d pick it up at the right price though, which it often is. I’ve seen it at my local 2nd hand store before and I probably would pick it up if I saw it again.

@Losermagnet I’m a little bit like that with DQ. I played 11 and 5 last year, and now I have 7, 8 and 9 all waiting their turn.

@TheFrenchiestFry I was in the mood for something a little older, and went for Soul Hackers first, but I am looking forward to Innocent Sin after that. It’ll be that or Catherine next. Assuming P5S isn’t released imminently but even autumn is feeling optimistic as it approaches.

@TheFrenchiestFry I thought the random encounter rate was WAY too high in Persona 2. I found the demon negotiations to be aggravating compared to SMT III and on due to the complete lack of any element of randomness to the conversations: there's always one specific right answer between a given character and a given Persona. On one hand, without a guide, it's just an unfun guessing game. With an answer guide, it's the most exploitable thing in the world. It lacks the danger and organic feel of an actual conversation.

I hated having to collect stupid tarot cards to summon Personae instead of just GETTING them after a successful negotiation. It's super satisfying to convince a demon to join you in Nocturne, SMT IV, IV: Apocalypse, and even Persona 5. It's like throwing a pokeball and capturing a pokemon. In Persona 2, it's like, after throwing a Pokeball, the pokemon gives you special vouchers that you can use to buy one of them after repeating the process five more times. It sucks.

It probably doesn't help that the game ticked me off early-ish on with the bomb shelter dungeon, which was pure torture.

It really is pretty amazing how SMT games have had good dungeon design for decades, but it took until 2016 for a Persona game to have dungeons that aren't terrible.

One thing I'll give P2 is that it was ahead of the curve in terms of at least having designed dungeons. P1's areas are just confusing labyrinths. Persona 3's Tartarus is fun to run around, but the place itself has no character. Persona 4 improved on that with themed areas, but they're just randomly generated sets of hallways. It took until Persona 5 to get proper, designed dungeons that were also fun to explore. Apparently Royal improves on the dungeon design in P5 as well.

@Ralizah Honestly the linear and pre-determined negotiation system for demons became frustrating only because there were a lot of intervals where I would put in the same exact answers when talking to specific demons that worked before, but they would just out of nowhere get randomly pissed off and I'd end up fully angering them and initiating combat.

SMT has excellent dungeon design but every Persona game including even P5 has had something that didn't sit well with me in regards to how dungeons are laid out. I detest the P1 dungeons purely because of the confusing map and ridiculously high encounter rate (especially on the PSP version), Tartarus in P3 became really boring to navigate to the point where I'd just play my Spotify music over my gameplay on my PS2 emulator just so I didn't have to keep listening to the grating Dark Hour music over and over again, and P4 was definitely a step up visually but the dungeons themselves are extremely flat looking and lack any interesting aesthetics and interesting mechanics in between the shadow hunting. On the other hand I really dig Nocturne's dungeons (Puzzle-Boy not withstanding) and especially SMT IV

I also think while P5's handcrafted dungeons are definitely several steps up in terms of variety and replayability, Mementos is a whole other story. I think I might actually hate Mementos just as much as the Bomb Shelter or Zodiac Club in P2

@JoeDiddley I really need to kick that habit. With COVID I've actually had less time to play games, but I've been splurge buying much more.

@TheFrenchiestFry I hated Mementos too. I'd put on some music or a vid and just mash the trigger buttons to speed through. The palaces, on the other hand, were great.
Nocturne, imo, was great because the dungeons were disorienting and challenging without being frustrating.

@TheFrenchiestFry Interesting. I have no strong feels about mementos either way, personally. I think it's the right way to do a randomized dungeon, though, since it's fairly easy to navigate and rewards you for poking around the entire level layout. I think it was fairly well-integrated into the game overall. The lack of random battles helps tremendously in that regard.

I'd still prefer an ACTUAL dungeon, though.

For me it was the monotonous music I think
Duh-nuh-nuh
Duh-nah-nuh-nuh
Then it sounds like somebody playing a keyboard with their feet.

I know it changes the further you go in, but the first impression was pretty bad.

@Losermagnet Honestly the Mementos song sounds like something straight out of the film Freddy got Fingered

@TheFrenchiestFry I haven't seen that movie, so I looked it up on youtube. I'm not sure how I'll feel when Mementos reminds me of 'Daddy would you like some sausage?'.

Strangely I prefer the dungeons in Persona 3 and 4 and find the crafted ones in Persona 5 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions a bit of a slog. I find the puzzles a bit gimmicky and there is extra stress for me with P5 as I don’t get much telly time so I’m pushing to the next save point whilst my wife’s in the bath or whatever so I don’t lose progress and have to redo what I don’t find fun anyway. At least with handhelds I can put the game to sleep.

Progressing in P3 and P4 I can at least do whilst watching something else. I don’t like Mementos with it’s one song and driving around. Having actual demons and negotiation is good though.

I hope SMT V’s dungeons are more like SMT IV. I much prefer those and then the first person style of Strange Journey, Soul Hackers and PQ2 to Persona 3-5.

I also hope I will enjoy Innocent Sin’s dungeons and combat more than @Ralizah did. For Persona games though the story will make me push through the dungeons that I don’t enjoy quite as much as mainline so far.

@JoeDiddley If you come to Persona games for their stories you'll really dig Innocent Sin. For one it's considerably darker than Persona 4 or Persona 5 in tone and has probably my favorite cast of characters in the series that each feel well rounded and heavily developed, and before P5R, JOKER was probably the best example of Atlus' attempt at writing a broken and sympathetic villain compared to any other Persona antagonist up to that point. It also has in my opinion the best battle theme out of all the Persona games and the OST in general is some of the best stuff to come out of MegaTen